Shaping Lives

Anindita Chakraborty

Initiated in November 2005, Project Armaan is a joint collaboration of Le Passage to India (LPTI) and Chintan Environmental Research and Action Group (a Non-profit organization), through its No Child in Trash program. The focus of this project is to help children of waste pickers to move away from dumpsites to school in Nizamuddin Basti, a predominantly Muslim settlement in South Delhi.

When I joined Chintan last summer after working in formal school for 5 years I had an opportunity to interact with these young children for the first time I was surprised to find them to be very bright. They were full of enthusiasm and had an eagerness to learn and do well in school. Being in teaching profession, I could well understand their potential and limitations. I really wanted to provide them with best of recourses and could not have asked for a better donor than Shaping Lives Foundation, which adds a lot of value to the initiative by...

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Initiated in November 2005, Project Armaan is a joint collaboration of Le Passage to India (LPTI) and Chintan Environmental Research and Action Group (a Non-profit organization), through its No Child in Trash program. The focus of this project is to help children of waste pickers to move away from dumpsites to school in Nizamuddin Basti, a predominantly Muslim settlement in South Delhi.

When I joined Chintan last summer after working in formal school for 5 years I had an opportunity to interact with these young children for the first time I was surprised to find them to be very bright. They were full of enthusiasm and had an eagerness to learn and do well in school. Being in teaching profession, I could well understand their potential and limitations. I really wanted to provide them with best of recourses and could not have asked for a better donor than Shaping Lives Foundation, which adds a lot of value to the initiative by instilling confidence and a sense of inclusiveness among these children coming from poor background.

Today, apart from providing education to 160 children (103 girls and 57 boys) the project provides computers with internet, filtered water, midday nourishment, health camps, and English tuition to prepare children for tomorrow. Once these students are equipped with essential literacy and numeracy skills, they are mainstreamed into government and municipal schools in their vicinity.

The initiative has brought change in the lives to children. They are confident and have realistic aspirations. The exposure these children got have really developed their understanding, they are out spoken, competitive and really want to do well in their lives. And they are really thankful to Armaan Project.